


And Must I Now Begin To Doubt, Who Never Doubted All These Years?

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Fringe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both versions of Phillip Broyles reflect on the choices made by them and by their counterpart, and wonder if the other made the better choices in the long run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Must I Now Begin To Doubt, Who Never Doubted All These Years?

“Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t Charlie.”

As Phillip Broyles had attempted to comfort Olivia, he had reflected how in some ways, this situation reminded him of the way his own friendship with Sanford Harris had ended. He’d tried to tell himself the same thing – that wasn’t Sanford, that man wasn’t the man he’d known. Yet that wasn’t true for him in the same way as it was for Olivia, since the man who had died that day was the same man Broyles had been friends with for years, not some shapeshifter masquerading as him.

He’d thought the same thing after he’d heard about Sanford’s conviction for assault. When the news had been broken to him, Broyles had been convinced that there was some mistake. That wasn’t Sanford, he wouldn’t have committed the assaults of which he had been accused.

Now he wondered whether he had ever really known who Sanford was, and what had made him become that way. Had Broyles failed Sanford the same way that he had failed his wife, by becoming so obsessed with fixing the world and solving the case of the people crumbling into dust that he had failed to notice that his marriage also needed fixing? If he’d spent more time with his friend, was there any way he could have prevented what had happened to him and to their friendship?

It had been a shock to him to learn that his counterpart on the other side had managed to keep his marriage intact. Was that because he had never had his own version of the case with the cosmonaut, or had never had any other case that had obsessed him to that extent? Or had the other Phillip Broyles been more able to prioritise his work/life balance, able to maintain a happy family life and friendships where he himself had not been?

He’d made his choice at the time. He’d chosen the case, he’d chosen to fight for the continued funding of the Fringe Division over fighting for his marriage. Now he’d saved the division, but at what cost? He’d pushed Diane away to the point where she no longer felt she could carry on in the marriage, and he spent so little time with his kids now that they were starting to call Rob “Dad”. He’d had more fun with that kid in the restaurant in a few minutes the day the call came in than he had with his own kids in such a long time. Whereas the other Phillip Broyles, he’d managed to keep his family intact. And Olivia had never mentioned an alternate Sanford Harris, but maybe, who knew, his other self had managed to maintain the friendship too.

Broyles had closed that case, and many more. The division’s future was secure; he’d won the respect of his team. But hearing about his counterpart and how he’d managed to achieve the same without the same adverse effects on his personal life, Broyles reflected on the life that could have been his for the taking.

 

He’d joined the Fringe Division all those years ago because he wanted to do some good in the world. It was what he’d believed, ever since the East River vortex event of twenty years ago. The other side, where Secretary Bishop’s son had been taken, they were at war with them. And if there was anything that Phillip Broyles could do to help save their own world, he was determined he would do it.

After Christopher was taken by the Candyman, Broyles understood Secretary Bishop’s determination to annihilate the other universe and the man who had stolen his son. He knew that if he ever got the chance to destroy that man, he would. The Candyman had stolen Christopher’s childhood, after all. All the idealism, the determination Broyles had had at the time of joining Fringe Division, all his plans to help save their universe, and he couldn’t even protect his own son. Broyles’s counterpart in the other universe would get to see his son grow up, to see him marry, have children of his own, because he’d succeeded in keeping his son safe. But what future awaited this Phillip Broyles, who had spent the last four years mentally preparing himself for the day he would have to say goodbye to his son?

Things had always seemed so clear to him before. The other universe had caused the destruction of theirs; they had to be defeated. They're monsters in our skin. They'll do anything, say anything to gain our trust, but they can't be trusted. That had been Secretary Bishop’s doctrine ever since Broyles had joined Fringe Division, back in the days when it was still the FBI. And back then, when Broyles had never met anyone from over there, he’d had no reason to doubt it. 

But when their Olivia had been switched with the Olivia Dunham from the other side, Broyles had watched the way the other Olivia had been determined to do whatever it took to solve the case, and he remembered the care she had shown Christopher. The only reason Christopher was able to sleep at night now was down to someone from the other side. And that couldn’t be put down to her having been implanted with the memories of their own Olivia; by that time, she knew who she was and where she came from. To all intents and purposes, Broyles was one of her captors, and yet their Olivia Dunham did all she could to help his son. The woman in front of him was clearly not the monster Secretary Bishop had claimed all people from Over There were.

And Broyles wondered what else he hadn’t been told. Even as the Secretary continued to talk of how the worlds were at war and only theirs could survive, Broyles began to question whether anything he had ever been told was true. In this situation, who was truly the monster – the man who spoke of destruction in order to save their own world, who spoke of the loss of life that would be involved as though it meant nothing, or the woman who was offering him hope for the future?

The choice was clear. He’d joined the division to do some good for the world, and there was only one way this could be achieved. He must put his faith in the other Olivia Dunham, for the sake of both their worlds.


End file.
